The present disclosure relates generally to portable media players with broadcast-receiving capability and in particular to communicating tagging status information between a portable media player and an accessory.
Users listen to or watch broadcast media in a variety of contexts. For example, it is common to listen to the radio while driving or doing chores or the like. During such listening, the user may hear a song he or she likes but might not hear or be able to remember the title of the song or the name of the artist. Further, even when the identifying information is provided, the user might not have ready access to a pen or paper to write down the information and might not be able to remember it later. This can make it difficult for users who want to acquire interesting information (e.g., purchasing a song or pursuing other information related to or referred to in the broadcast) to locate the content later.
In the case of music broadcasts (e.g., radio), various services have sprung up to assist users in identifying songs they hear. For example, radio stations maintain play lists indicating what songs were played when, and some services make these lists available to users. If the user knows which station he or she was listening to and the time when the song was played, the play list can be searched to identify the song. Other services identify songs from recorded segments in analog or digital formats. For example, a user with a mobile phone who hears a song playing in a shop can invoke a service and allow the service to “hear” a portion of the song. The service analyzes the sounds and identifies the song. Other services allow a user to send a digital recording (e.g., in MP3 format) of a segment of the song via the Internet or other digital data network; the service analyzes the digital recording and identifies the song.
These services are not always reliable. In the case of playlists, the user must remember the station identifying information (e.g., frequency or call letters) and the date and time. In the case of sample matching, the matching can be error-prone, particularly if the quality of the recording or live sound is poor.